RE: The introduction by DBE of Celebrities covering Learners Lessons during Lockdown Period

Revolutionary greetings to all progressive forces in the country and to students across the country whom have mandated us to be their voice and shape their discourse on their behalf. We wish to also applaud the little strides the country is making in ensuring this devastating COVID19 pandemic does not reach a situation where it becomes devastatingly unmanageable, through various measures amongst them being the closure of schools in attempts to curb the spread of this deadly virus.

As the Congress Of South African Students has earlier wrote to the minister of basic education raising a few issues which we felt might be of national concern especially in times like this when we uncertain of how long this global crisis will be with us.

And secondly to outline some of our proposed programmes in closing the academic gap as a result of this crisis, amongst others using retired teachers in communities and creating safe online podcasts.

We must say to this day we have not heard from the minister. Instead what we witnessing through social media has a sparked some serious concerns
Firstly COSAS wishes to set the record straight it is not against this great initiative from certain sections of society, we in fact further applaud them for finally coming to the fore on issues of education in society particularly when the country is faced with a devastating global pandemic.

This has been a call by COSAS since time in memory that education as a site of struggle must and should always be a responsibility of society at large especially motive forces of the NDR.

However, we must state without fear of being victimised or seen to be anti-initiatives that are aimed at assisting us be quiet when certain things are done, especially that speak directly against our strategic objective as the government of the day and resolutions of the ANC in particular on education and social development are being totally disregarded purely to satisfy the insatiable lust to loot donor and departments funds at the expense of eroding our already weakened educational system
we deem this approach as an anti-transformational and extreme level of idiocy from the minister to can give blessings to such a programme that rejects education on its own purely by allowing to enter an agreement where “volunteers” based on their prominence in society over thousands of qualified young people with teaching qualifications roaming around, deliberately allowed to decay their degrees on the basis that the department on its own cannot find strategic means to employ them.

Sadly even teachers who are in the system that are not permanently absorbed are not even seen as drivers to this program.

The moment we can even ask who developed that content and who approved it, we are confident ministers you will collapse trying to convince us
We deem this as a direct insult to the president of the country who agreed to aggressively fight the scourge of unemployment in any corner we find, in his words that we must make it a point we accelerate the absorption of graduates and building of necessary experience for our young people.

If the department at a strategic level cannot comprehend with such basic strategic thinking of cabinet, there’s only one rational conclusion we arrive at, that the minister is a tired old lady whom should be given an opportunity to go home and baby seat her grandchildren if any.

We cannot stomach her incompetency to collapse us any longer.

This was the last straw. From lowering of grades to promote meaningless output ratios,
to school safety challenges that you clearly incapacitated to resolve. But on this one minister you’ve went overboard we must applaud the lapse of the little logic we thought you possess.

You have gone straight to antagonize every founding value of SADTU the union we thought you belonged to, that of professionalising the teaching profession We’ve taken a decision to meet and engage our alliance partners and map a way forward around your leadership at the helm as a result.

What hurts us most minister is to even see individuals with grade 8reports whom even went as far as national TV glorifying dropout tendencies being flaunted on posters that the department either funded or deployed resources to assist this initiative. Minister, how do you even begin to have collaboratives of this nature without ethical screening? Shame on you minster for your passive behaviour.

You must be told that you have since graduated in cum laud into idiocy unapologetically so and for society to know you’ve since become a liability. We just tolerated you as a parent. Since you relegated your responsibilities of providing strategic leadership as a minister. We have lost the little confidence we had in you.

We call upon our all students not stream any content of that nature as it is an insult to our national colours and spits directly into our efforts of making education fashionable through encouraging graduate absorption in space they qualify to be in. all our students are urged to continue studying in small groups or pairs Until communicated otherwise while the country navigates its way out of this challenging moment

About COSAS

Since 1979. COSAS has remained an organization of young intellectual student activists who are visionary, revolutionary, and are driven to impact and influence the educational and economical system of their time.